My Life in Projects

I am addicted to Pinterest.

I admit it freely!

I love finding new tips and better/faster/cheaper ways to do anything and everything I may or may not have thought to ever do!

I also like to think I can do EVERYTHING! I try to do EVERYTHING. I like to bake, read, watch, and create--in a crafty non-writing sense.

I also like to organize and have things clean.

I have a 14 month old daughter.

I CANNOT do everything! I only have 2.5 (that is 2 POINT 5, not twenty-five) hours every day to do everything I want to do without a baby clamboring and clawing at my knees begging to be picked up and part of the "fun."

I also blog sometimes.

So my first problem, obviously, is time management.

This is where Pinterest becomes a problem. No matter how awesome the Pinterest idea is, it does me no good if I don't allow myself time to complete the projects or do the fun things. 

I resolved about a month ago to forego using Pinterest until I had completed 10 of my projects. If any of you follow me on Pinterest (which you can by going HERE), you may have noticed that I haven't really kept to that resolution. Meal planning went to pot and budgeting also took a small dive for the month as I tried to do projects and maintain our home without a plan in place. 

One of the most consistent things that I've done to help structure my life has been inspired by Pinterest. I pinned THIS daily/weekly/monthly cleaning schedule. I thought it was a genius idea, but the actual schedule didn't quite work for me. So I created my own and switched some of the tasks around.

I have been doing this schedule since the end of June. I stick to it pretty well and it really helps me keep calm about cleaning. I am the SLOWEST person in the world! What takes normal people 10 minutes to do takes me 20-25 minutes, as my dear mom can attest! (I like to say I am careful, precise, and meticulous!) So each day I clean for about 15-20 minutes instead of an hour and a half or more on one day. And if I miss cleaning on one day, I can catch up if I want to or just wait for it to come around again the next week. The swing day helps me clean things that only need occasional maintenance.

Things I don't usually do:

Wipe bathroom counters/sinks each day (ends up about twice a week)

Dishes (Peter does this :D )

Laundry (I usually do it every other day)

Sweep the kitchen each night (once a week)

By doing a little each day, I feel like my house always feels clean, not tidy, but clean. And cleaning doesn't always seem like such an overwhelming task or take up a whole nap time (that's valuable!)

So this has worked for me. Feel free to copy/download/use this 5x7 picture if you want. I do!

Other things I've done inspired by Pinterest:

A fun and festive summer wreath made using half of a Styrofoam wreath and drink umbrellas. Cutting the wreath in half was a Pinterest find. TIP: use a serrated knife for cutting! And the tutorial for the wreath was HERE. I just left the toothpicks long, but it did scratch my door a little if we weren't careful while opening and closing / going through the door.

I made this picnic quilt / blanket with the help of a few tutorials on Pinterest. I had already had the idea on my own to use a tablecloth on the back of a quilt as a DIY picnic blanket like the $30 ones they now sell (like this JJ cole one for sale on Amazon). The total cost was probably about $20, but it was fun. And as Peter says, "we chalk it all up to experience!" It's not always about the results, but more about having fun doing something new. I kind of used THIS tutorial for how to put the quilt together, but not for piecing the quilt. I had only ever made ONE quilt (for claire, a small 3x3 squares quilt with 6" squares) and with that one you sewed the squares into rows and then sewed the rows together matching up the points as you went. In that tutorial she did something different sewing in fours and I didn't want to try to figure it out. I still have to tie it together. But it's mostly done. And usable!

I'm very proud of this one! I love the way it turned out! It was kind of expensive though! The hydrangea flowers from JoAnns are not cheap! Even with a 50% off coupon! I paid about $3 for each flower. The wreath was also $3 and the letter was $2. I think I paid about $20 for everything. I painted the letter a custom off-white because the flowers aren't quite white. It was really easy though. I snipped the stems of the flowers and stuffed them through the grapevine. I painted the letter "l" and put heavy duty staples in the back with some twine threaded through which I used to attach it to the wreath. And then I tied some twine to the top as a hanger. HERE is the inspiration. She was selling them on Etsy. She also uses house numbers instead of initials. 

And the one last project that I am going to share is a cake.

For the  General  Relief Society Women's Conference our stake asked each ward to provide 5 cakes as center pieces for the dinner. I volunteered because I really wanted a reason to make this delicious looking cake I found on Pinterest. It was the first time I had ever made a cake completely from scratch and I'm really proud of it and the way it turned out! It was really moist because of the sour cream. And it was rich and delicious! Claire woke up when I started using the mixer so it took me about twice as long as it should have to make it, but that's not really abnormal for me anyway! You can find the recipe HERE. My ganache did not set very well, and today I learned that one way to get it to set better is to freeze it! Genius!

That's the picture from the original blog post. The ganache looks much better in hers. A bit more appetizing. But I think mine tasted just as good. Definitely rich. It's also a dark chocolate type of cake. Lots of chocolatey goodness!

In another Pinterest note, I hung a shelf using a Pinterest tip and it was AWESOME! I used painters tape to "measure" the distance between two saw edge picture hangers. I then put the tape on the wall where I wanted to hang the shelf and put the nails in at the ends. The shelf fit perfectly and hangs strait. Measure once, nail once, hang perfectly! It works!

Looking back to Claire's birthday, I also made her birthday tutu via THIS Pinterest tutorial. Which turned out super cute, but a little too big. It hangs on her hips/diaper.

I'm also working on a skirt right now and I tried to make this dress found HERE, but it was NOT a good look on me. OH MY GOSH! I wish someone would have warned me that this should be reserved for skinny people! It could have been creator's/wearer's error, but I felt like I was in a nightgown and it looked really awkwardly frumpy. So I don't have a picture of this completed look because no one should see that on me, and they won't!

So when you wonder to yourself, "I wonder what Melanie is doing right now?" This is it. I'm probably looking at Pinterest, cleaning, trying to create something, or reading/singing to Claire. And if I'm not doing any of that, I'm watching TV because sometimes you just need to not do anything! Unless it's the end or the beginning of the month in which case I'm probably blogging! Happy Pinning!